An Collaborative FAQ Approach for Collecting Evidence on Formal Method Industrial Usage

Abstract

After several decades, formal methods are gaining ground in Industry. However, as pointed out by the results of Woodcock et al’s survey, formal methods still need significant additional effort in several areas, most notably in collecting evidence on the use of formal methods and tools in Industry. Such material is crucial for helping companies considering the adaption of formal methods in their decision and deployment process. This talk presents a practical approach for building a repository of evidence material. The main benefits of the proposed approach are first to make it possible to integrate information for many Industry pilots that have tested diverse formal methods. The secondary benefit is that the current implementation of the repository as a wiki of that project is simple yet efficient in managing access but also contribution rights. We highlight different usage scenarios both as passive user, from different roles in the organization, and as contributors, either to point out missing material or as provider of new material.